HAVING been provided with the necessary outfit and sea-chest, I was taken on board the Worcester off Greenhithe, Kent, in August, 1877, and was allotted a hammock in the main top port.



After supper on the evening of my arrival, I learned that all the new boys had to go through the ceremonies of being initiated a Worcester cadet, usually known as grogging. I happened to be the first one on turn and was duly asked if I could sing. As the alternative was being grogged, I said I would sing if an Arabic song would be permitted, and as no one present understood Arabic, there was no one to judge the merits of the song, so I was let off being grogged and was duly initiated. Some of the other new boys were not as lucky as I was, and were held down on a table while a sponge-bag of water from the river was squirted into their mouths, resulting in a ducking much resembling that provided by Father Neptune the first time one crosses The Line.

To provide for the outside work of the ship during school hours, three boys are detailed each day as follows : One is mate of the deck, who watches for signals, keeps time, etc., while the other two man the ferry-boat that plies between the ship and the landing causeway.

It happened one day, when the smallest boy manned the boat with the tallest boy on board, who stood about six foot three, that another boy returning from short leave was accompanied by his mother, who wished to see the ship. Seeing the boat lying at the far end of the causeway they walked towards it, and the mother remarked to her son, on seeing the small boy standing there, " What small boys you have on the Worcester," just as the other boy, who had been sitting in the boat caught sight of the lady approaching, and rose to his feet. The mother then said in bewilderment, " What very tall boys you have too."

I have always been glad that I went through a course of instruction on board the Worcester, especially as I had spent the preceding years of my life in Syria.

Like all those brought up abroad who come home when they are youngsters, I never lived at home after I was 13. This rather has the effect of making one feel differently about one's home than do those who live longer with their people. At any rate I have never felt homesick, and yet few boys enjoyed a happier time at home than I did.

Soon after joining the Worcester, a collection was made for a life-boat, which was being built by the Worcester and was to be named the Worcester Cadet, and presented to the British Life-boat Institution.

Each boy was given a money box before going on his holidays in order to collect what he could from his people and friends. It happened that the people I stayed with on this occasion were not well off, so I did not hand my money box round much. As I thought that there could only be a few coppers in the box, I wanted to make quite sure how much there really was in it, so that I might add a few more shillings if I thought it necessary, before handing my box back to the captain.

I expect most people know that one is prevented from shaking money out of a money box by a thin cloth skirt fastened on to the flattened tubing secured to the money opening. I naturally did not want to show any signs on the box that I had extracted the money, for no one would have believed that I wished to make up any deficit. After puzzling over the matter for a bit, I thought of a very simple way, and soon found that there were nothing but coppers in the box, so after adding a few shillings I handed my box to the captain in as perfect a condition as I had received it.

I hope that a manufacturer of money boxes may read this book, for I would be glad to suggest a simple device to him, to prevent anyone taking money out of a box for his own gain.

In addition to sail drill, boat drill, gun drill, seamanship and good school training in nautical and English subjects, the boys washed decks. On half or whole holidays they were encouraged to play football, cricket, tennis, and other games in the Worcester playground ashore.

There was always great excitement on board the Worcester when any of the famous clippers passed up or down the Thames, as there were often old Worcester boys on board of them who exchanged signals with us.

On one occasion, when we had a whole holiday, two of my friends and I walked to Gravesend and bought a fourteen-pound tin of plum jam, and took it in turns to carry the tin in my nice new Gladstone bag. We had got about halfway back when there was a dispute as to who had the next turn, and while the dispute lasted the boy who had carried the bag last sat on it. Suddenly something gave inside, and on opening it we found that the lid of the tin had given way, and the jam had been squeezed out of the tin by the boy's weight. I was the only one who suffered, as the jam ruined the lining of my bag, but after being replaced in the tin it was just as good to eat as it had been before the accident.

As my parents lived abroad, I spent my holidays with friends, and the holiday I enjoyed the most was spent in Ireland with Mr. Maxwell's brother's family.

Here I learned what Irish hospitality really is, and enjoyed every moment I spent with them, either at Belfast or at other places. At breakfast one morning I happened to say that the bottom of a kettle, while on the stove and filled with water, is not hot. Everyone doubted this statement, so I said I would prove it, and finding a kettle of boiling water on the kitchen stove, demonstrated how cool the bottom of the kettle was, by placing it on the palm of my hand, taking care not to touch the sides with my fingers as they were hot.

A boy ran away one night from the Worcester while I was in her. Why he did so no one ever found out, and as he escaped very cleverly it may be of interest if I describe how he got away without being stopped by those on night watch.

After taking off his shoes and socks before going to bed, he hid himself sufficiently to slip on his nightshirt over his clothes and rolled up his trousers before turning into his hammock. About midnight he got up, secured his shoes and socks under his nightshirt and went on deck without causing any suspicion. He then noiselessly went down the after gangway on to the landing platform, which was secured to the ship's forward side about two feet above water, and lowered the captain's skiff which hung from a davit projecting from the ship's side, about ten feet above water, with her sculls in her ready for use.

After getting into the skiff he allowed her to drift with the tide so as to make no noise. Then when well clear, pulled across to the other side of the river and getting into a barge proceeding up river asked for a passage, explaining that his father had sold a yacht and given him the skiff (a small dinghy) to do as he liked with. On arriving at the wharf, where the barge had to discharge her cargo, the boy asked the bargee if he would buy the dinghy, but the man suspected something was wrong and notified the police, who took the boy home to his parents.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Worcester days, and went through most of the classes and seamanship sections, and was a leading boy when I left the ship at Midsummer, 1889. My father and sister Natalie came on board to witness the distribution of prizes on Prizeday.

The Midsummer Prize-day was the event of the year, when the Worcester Committee, the parents and friends of the boys, and a notable personage who had been kind enough to consent to distribute the prizes, came on board from a steamer chartered for the purpose. The boys, dressed in their best, manned the yards and ship to greet the arriving guests.

Among other things I won the First Prize for Seamanship, a beautiful sextant presented by Henry Hughes and Son, of which I was very proud, and which I have treasured ever since. It is certainly the most serviceable prize a sailor can win, because it is not only useful for navigation, but is also indispensable to anyone who does surveying work, of which I happened to do a great deal later on.

After leaving the Worcester my father arranged that I should serve my apprenticeship in the sailing ships of the British Shipowners of Liverpool, who owned a fleet of excellently found ships that traded all over the world. But before going on board of a ship, I spent a few months with my parents, who had come to England on purpose to start me on my seafaring career.